Independent Institute Senior Fellow Robert Higgs is interviewed by Scott Horton of Antiwar Radio on the widening gap between public and private sector pay, the increasing affluence of military towns compared with others, the disappearance of traditional checks on government power, and the predation and incremental ratchet effect of expanding governmental powers that increase temporarily during wartime but never really recede.

Senior Fellow Robert Higgs talks about his book, Neither Liberty nor Safety: Fear, Ideology, and the Growth of Government, on The Holistic Survival Show with Jason Hartman. Higgs sheds light on the history of institutionalized violence implemented by a bloated federal state, caused by a misguided faith in larger government to ensure a freedom from fear. The Necessary and Proper Clause? People have been trying to loosen the bounds of the Constitution virtually from the time it was ratified to the present, Higgs cautions.

Senior Fellow Robert Higgs is interviewed here by Scott Horton on Antiwar.com Radio, warning those who long for total governmental and economic collapse to be careful what they wish for. Higgs also explains why federal spending cannot continue at the current record levels without a failure of the bond market. He further compares the military and economic over-extension of the Soviet Union prior to its collapse to the United States as a warning against rampant spending by the government.

Is it possible that the U.S. governments response to the 9/11 attacks has served al-Qaeda interests? Despite the hype, U.S. law-enforcement officials have found little evidence of serious terrorist activities inside the country, compelling them to escalate their use of prosecution and entrapment to justify their enormous budgets.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty designated space for peaceful purposes as the province of all mankind. Virtually all spacefaring nations now favor a new treaty to accommodate major changes in geopolitics and military technology. The United States, however, has blocked negotiations, citing potential threats to U.S. rights, capabilities, and freedom of action.